University Of Colorado Must Reinstate Professor Whose Free Speech Rights Were Violated

After he was fired from the teaching post he had held for many years, Ward Churchill sued the University and its Board of Regents alleging that he was unconstitutionally terminated because of a controversial and unpopular essay he had written concerning the events on September 11. In April 2009, a jury agreed that Churchill was fired for expressing his personal opinions, which is a clear violation of his First Amendment rights.

However, a judge denied Churchill’s petition to be reinstated to his job, essentially denying him any relief for the blatant denial of his rights. Churchill is appealing that decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Churchill is not even what people would call a 9/11 “truther”. He merely wrote an essay saying that 9/11 was a case of our foreign policy creating a backlash against us–that the chickens had come come home to roost. The idea that he has faced such grief over this reasonable (albeit controversial) claim has to have a stifling effect on Academia at large. When University profs can’t disagree with the establishment we are facing a serious problem.